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WEdNEsdAy, M ay 1, 2002
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The values of victims’ rights
Editor-in-Chief:
Maggie Jirasek
(x2447)
Design Editor:
Salena De La Cruz
Copy Editor:
Allison Gerfin
A & E Editor:
Daisy Bain
News Editor:
Frank Jordan
Sports Editor:
Elena Boryska
Opinion Editor:
Erinn Lerten
Feature Editor:
Elisabeth Meyer
It seems like a lifetime ago that
my world was shattered. I was
stabbed ¡seven times by a 15-
year-old girl, and the justice sys
tem I thought was there to pro
tect me left me victimized again,
wondering where my rights as a
victim were.
It has been almost four years
since the night of reckoning.
That night she and another girl
were arguing, and when I tried
to step in the middle, she
pushed me. I pushed her back.
She stopped and I thought it
was done; it had only just be
gun. She hit me in the face. I
got her in a headlock and
swung back. I had her on the
ground and saw blood on her
face and realized someone was
hurt. I started walking away
when I heard someone scream
ing, “She was stabbed!” I
thought to myself, I don’t have
a knife, it isn’t me. It was then
that I saw blood running down
my arm and felt wetness on my
back, and pulled my hand away
covered in blood. I ended up
at Oregon Health and Sciences
University Trauma Center for a
night.
Since that night I’ve had to
wait for the system to fight for
me. It took approximately a year
to go to. court. I had to call them
to receive updates on the case.
They asked if court dates were
good for her, never me. They
didn’t even consider her already
26 misdemeanors or four felony
charges. Her defense was that I
Was older and bigger and could
have done her more damage.
Isn’t could have the operative
phrase here? I could have, but
chose not to.
She was sen
tenced to NOT A DAMN
THING! Her official charge was
Assault Four, a misdemeanor.
She spent three days in the
Donald E. Long Juvenile Deten
tion Center and was ordered to
pay $1,500 in restitution at $50
increments every month begin
ning October 1999, to be paid off
by May 2002. She usually pays
$50 every six to eight months.
When I call the mediator (some
one who is the middle person be
tween the victim and offender) in
the case he tells me she is trying
so hard to be responsible. I tell
him all I want is for my nightmare
to end, but it won’t. Not as long
as I live because I never got jus
tice.
In these three or so years that
have passed I’ve been to numer
ous doctor appointments for arm
pain arid back pain, due to my
muscle wrapping around my nerve
(according to my physical thera
pist), as' well as post-traumatic
stress. I still, to this day, have prob
lems with my back, and she still
has $692 to pay in restitution.
In reliving this nightmare, I hope
to enlighten people as to some of
the things victims go through and
how, maybe, things can Change.
“To preserve andprotect the right
of crime victims to justice,” is just
a section of the rights of victims in
the Constitution of the State of
Oregon, Article I, which sums up
what victims should get. But they
aren’t because so much is done to
give the offenders more rights be
cause they are apparently trying
so hard to change. I’m not bitter,
Save kids from office
jobs; send them to school
Business Manager:
Aaron Patelzick
(x2578)
Webmaster:
Luke Mahan
Staff:
Jesse Gurzynski
Isaiah Creel
Shadra Beesly
Andy Price
Jennifer Kane
J.J. Pearson
Nick Barron
Megan Cobb
Secretary:
JoAnne Gale
Adviser:
Goals:
Patty Mamula
(x2310)
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I can remember one of the
greatest days of the school
year when I was younger was
Take Our Daughters To Work
Day. It's a day dedicated to
skipping school so I could
hang out with my mother or fa
ther and peer into their daily
lives. It was never a toss up as
to what parent I chose to go to
work with. It was always my
mother.
That’s because my father is
a businessman. He sits at a
desk all da\ looking at num
bers. If those numbers are per
haps out of sorts, he throws
them on somebody else’s desk,
and that person has to dp the
dirty work. I promised myself I
would never become a person
like that.
Two years ago I was in dire
need of employment, and that’s
when Take Our Daughters to
Work Day became my life. I got
a “temporary/summer” job at
my father’s office, where I be
came the girl who had to do the
dirty work of all the shirt-and-
tie men like my dad. That’s
when it became perfectly clear
as to why I never skipped
school and went to work with
my dad.
Now 679 days later, I am still
employed at the office. (I actu
ally have a calendar with big
red X’s, counting the days that
I have been a part of this hor
rendous working experience.)
These jobs are simply a trap.
Nobody actually enjoys their
day-in and day-out office em
ployment, but there are always
so many people who have been
working them for so long.
So when it came time for Take
Our Daughters to Work Day
this year, I honestly didn’t ex
pect many kids to join us at the
office. If their parents are
barely able to make it through
a full eight-hour day, why
would they expect their six- and
seven-year-olds to be much
different? But by 8 a.m., there
was quite a showing of ram
bunctious rug rats running and
screaming through the differ
ent departments. There was no
escaping them.
By approximately 8:07 a.m., I
heard the first “Mommy, I’m
bored.” And this phrase escaped
every child’s mouth at least 16
times during the remainder of the
day^
Now don’t get me wrong, the
office did a good job at provid
ing “entertainment” for the
Bj approximately 8:07
a.m., I heard the first
‘‘Mommy, Pm bored.”
And this phrase escaped
each child's mouth at
least 16 times...
kids. This included numerous
tours of areas in the office, in
cluding the connecting ware
house, arid even a visit to the
semi trucks in the parking lot!
So what is my point you ask?
No kid ever says “I want to be
stuck in a dead-end desk job
when I grow up.”
The point of Take Our Daugh
ters to Work Day is to give them
a look into the lives of their par
ents. But if that life merely in
cludes sitting on your butt typ
ing numbers, then maybe you
should just send your kids to
school for the day. If you feel that
your job is close to torture, well
then, your kids are probably go
ing to think they’ve actually en
tered hell. Please, for the sake of
your child’s sanity, next year on
Take Our Daughters to Work Day,
push them onto that big yellow
bus headed for an education.
They will thank you later.
7b reach Jennifer Kane e-mail
jenk403@aol.com or drop by B-104.
just experienced in die judicial sys
tem and the rights victims seem
not to have.
In a recent news brief in USA
Today, President Bush was re
ported as trying to get more vic
tims’ rights in every state. That’s
a great first step, but the problem
is not all those rules and regula
tions apply when you are a victim
who is older than the offender.
Currently, there is Measure 11,
which holds juveniles to higher
standards, but in my case she
wasn’t held to a higher standard
because of the “could have.” Be
cause I was older and bigger.
She may pay the remaining
amount off soon, or I could be wait
ing for years. But even if it is paid
off, she’ll forget about what she’s
done long before I ever do. I’ve
learned to forgive what she’s done
because that, is the way I was
raised, but I will never forget. Even
if I wanted to, I have seven scars
to remind me that justice wasn’t
served and it probably never will
be. I hope Bush realizes that ev
ery time a person is victimized once
by the:offender and once by the
system, there will never truly be
justice arid never truly be victims’
rights. ■
To reach SalenaDeLaCruze-maU
wonderwoman41477@yahoo.com
or drop by B-104.
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